Beyond The Veil
by snapewasahero
Summary: What really happens beyond the veil in the department of mysteries? Who do the whispers belong to? Hope to be completely cannon compliant, even if a little AU - rated M just in case.
1. Chapter 1

11th February 1985

Wendel Ramshead was a mysterious man. Well naturally the head of the department of mysteries inside the British Ministry Of Magic would have to be mysterious to some degree. Only a few people knew the real Wendel, the one who cracked jokes about brain tentacles and old father time. His fellow unspeakables were the only people he spent any real time with. He had no family left to speak of; "He who shall not be named" took them away years ago. So now his job was his life, his colleagues his family.

He left his house on that Monday morning at his usual 7 am. Being the mysterious man he was, he did not floo, nor did he apparate to the Ministry. Instead he took the Muggle Underground, and took the "toilet entrance"; he bought a Muggle newspaper at the station and scanned it for anything unusual. The only strange things he could see were a Muggle film about a society that met at breakfast, and a couple of ladies who were famous for singing about chess. He made a mental note to check for stray confundus charms.

When he finally got to the Ministry he saw his protégé Francesca Flutterbie waiting in the atrium.

"Morning Frank, how did your experiment go?"

"Well Chief, I think if I can just stabilise the sand particles, I should get the turners to go backwards _and_ forwards, and more than just a few hours too. We could be looking at the first time turners to go back days if not years! I just need to wait for the new sand samples to get here from Egypt and Greece. Muggle transport is so slow, but I just don't want to risk any magical interference. "

"How long d'ya think it'll be for them to get here?"

"Shouldn't be more than a week."

"Good, that means you can help me in the veil room, I want to run a few diagnostics on the arch. Bode and Crocker said they heard a rumbling noise in there the other day, and I want to make sure it's alright structurally."

"I'm amazed those two could hear anything over their own chatter, but yeah, I'll help you check it out Sir."

After sorting through his morning tasks and replying to some department head memos, Wendel and Francesca headed to the veil room.

Set in what looked like a dark, damp courtroom sat a huge archway with a tattered black veil set into it. As long as Wendel had worked in the DOM he had been fascinated by the fluttering of the veil. But the first thing any new recruit was taught was to not get too close. And so he had always treated it with the utmost respect. No one had really figured out what the arch was for, or what lay on the other side, but Wendel was determined that he would be the one to find out, and so had made it his life's work to study the archway.

They both went to work quickly with their wands, running diagnostics. As their wands waved, a quill and parchment suspended in mid-air were scribbling results furiously.

"Something's not right here Chief"

"What've you found Frank?"

"Look over here, every time I wave my wand just here... well it's like I can see a silver crack in the arch, but then it disappears. I need a closer look"

As if in slow motion Francesca stepped forward and waved her wand at the same time. Suddenly the crack showed up, this time bigger and definitely more pronounced.

"NO FRANK! GET BACK!"

Wendel made a grab for her robes. His hands clasped into the black material and found grip too late as they were both sucked towards the crack and through the veil.

18th June 1996

Sirius Black groggily opened his eyes. He didn't know where he was, or in fact how he got there. The last thing he remembered was facing off against his cousin Bella in the department of mysteries. His whole back seemed to be throbbing,

"Shit!" He thought, "I hope Snivellus left some pain reliever potion at Grimmauld Place"

In the split second it took him to have that thought he heard an almighty crash followed by running footsteps. Looking upwards he saw an old pair of fierce eyes staring back down at him.

"Dammit!" "Francesca get through here quick, looks like we've finally got some company!"

A.N – Please tell me what you think, this is my 1st fanfiction so would like to know whether to continue with this idea.


	2. Chapter 2

***Disclaimer – I own nothing from the HP universe***

Chapter 2

As Francesca came into the room, Sirius, still lying on the floor, grabbed a the nearest thing to him, a book, and pointed it ready to throw at someone.

"Whoa there Sonny, calm down we're not gonna hurt you."

"Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here? Where's Harry?"

"Ok let's take your questions one at a time shall we? My name's Wendel Ramshead, this here's my protégé Francesca Flutterbie. As to where you are and how you got here, well that's an answer I can only give my best guess to, and as for Harry – I have no idea who that is"

"Well how about you let me in on this "best guess" of yours" Sirius warily said, still lying on the floor

"Alright, but why don't we do it in a sitting position, that floor can hardly be comfy. Cup of tea anyone?"

Sirius was helped up by Francesca and Wendel and he followed them both through a short hallway to another room. In it were three squashy looking chairs, two older looking ones in green and blue, and what looked like a much newer one in red. There were also a couple of tables and a writing desk in the corner. As they stepped into the room a tea tray appeared with a steaming pot, 3 mugs, sugar, milk and a plate of biscuits.

Wendel sat down on the blue chair and started pouring the tea; Francesca sat down on the green chair, leaving the red one for Sirius.

"So your best guess?"

"Yes well first of all answer a couple of questions. Namely what's the date today, and where do you last remember being before you got here? oh and do you have a name?"

"My name is Sirius Black. The last thing I remember is being in the Department of Mysteries. I was in the middle of a battle, and I was hit with a stunning spell, I was knocked backwards and when I opened my eyes I was here, wherever _here_ is."

"Where in the DOM were you, did it look like a courtroom, with a black archway on a dais? "

"Yeah that's the place; I was standing right in front of the arch when my _dear_ cousin Bella hit me with the stunner"

"You forgot to tell us what date it is." Francesca said speaking for the first time.

"18th June 1996, why?"

"Well at least we know the calendar's right Chief. Guess that means the newspapers have all been true too" "Wait a minute…. Sirius Black? As in the mass murderer who's on the run?"

Sirius saw Francesca's hand moving towards her pocket, but she didn't produce her wand.

"Yes I am Sirius Black, and yes I'm on the run, but I am not a mass murderer. Look it's a long story and I promise to tell it to you, when you've finished explaining where I am"

"Ok fair point Sirius. Well as I said I'm Wendel Ramshead, I am (or was) Head of the Department of mysteries. Francesca and I…"

"You can call me Frank, everyone else does."

"Yes Frank and I were investigating an anomaly in the archway one day and we inadvertently got sucked through it to here. My best guess is that we're still somewhere in the Dept. of Mysteries albeit hidden away. There are quite a few areas there I believe are undiscovered, especially on the other side of the love room, which is always kept locked. By our reckoning and your recent confirmation we've been stuck here just over ten years, looking for a way to get out"

"So if you two have been here over 10 years, how did you know about my breaking out of Azkaban?"

Frank threw him a copy of the Daily Prophet dated 19th October 1995 with the front page heading

**MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM**

"How?..."

"The room" said Frank, "any time we've asked for something over the years; it's given it to us. When I said aloud to Wendel, that I wished I knew what the date was, and what was going on in the world, a calendar appeared on the wall and Daily Prophets started appearing in the kitchen every morning. Oh and up until 5 minutes ago there were only two chairs in this room."

"So it's kind of like the room of requirement at Hogwarts then"

"Oh so you know about the come and go room, that'll make things easier." Said Wendel.

"So we're just kinda stuck here then?" Sirius asked with trepidation in his voice."

"For now, but we've been working on ways to let people know we're here, and now that you're here three heads must be better that one." Said Frank with a smile

"Plus the room has given us the experiments and documents that we were working on in the Ministry before we disappeared so we've had lots to occupy us. I myself have perfected a time turner that can go back and forward in years as well as days. Well I think I have, cause I can't really test it properly stuck in here. She laughed sheepishly.

"Alright alright, Frank, enough about us, why don't you tell us your story Sirius, and why you think we should believe you're not a mass murderer.

Sirius figured since her might be there a while, he should tell them the full story starting with his being James' and Lily's secret keeper, meeting Harry for the first time, right up to the battle he had just left. It took a good few hours with cups of tea, sandwiches and even a pain reliever potion for Sirius all provided by the room,

Once he was finished Frank and Wendel gave him a tour of the "room". There was a living room, kitchen area, bathroom a laboratory/office and 3 bedrooms, one of which was decorated in reds and gold's and Frank said hadn't been there before Sirius appeared in it that morning. Upon seeing the bed in here Sirius realised just how tired he was and how late it had gotten. He asked his new companions if they minded him sleeping for a bit.

"Not at all Sirius, and when you wake we can show you the things we've tried to get out of here, and we can see if you can add your expertise."

The last thing Sirius remembered as he fell asleep was that yes, he would get them all out of here if he could possibly help it, because the longer he was stuck here the longer Harry was on his own without a family, and that was not a possibility he could live with anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Well its official, you are no longer a mass murderer" Frank said as she tossed the Daily Prophet towards Sirius as he walked into the kitchen.

Sirius glanced down at the headlines **HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS** and started to read.

"Oh and you're also officially dead"

"Shit" He scanned the pages until he found the bit about himself, it told how Harry and Dumbledore had been telling the truth all year, how he had fallen through the veil after being struck by Bella's curse, and how since he had been "killed" fighting for the rumoured Order of The Phoenix, that meant that Harry and Hermione had been telling the truth about his innocence all along.

"Great" he thought to himself, "my name's finally cleared, and I'm finally free, but all I get is imprisoned in another room for Merlin knows how long!"

As if reading his thoughts Wendel piped up

"Don't worry Sirius, we'll find a way out of here yet, Frank and I haven't given up after ten years and were not about to start now that we've got you to help too. We'll get right on it after breakfast."

For the first time Sirius noticed the kitchen table laden with bacon, eggs, sausages and tomatoes. There was also toast, jam, marmalade and porridge. As he poured himself a cup of coffee and started piling things on his plate, he thought

"Well at least this place provides food and drinks too; let's hope it tastes better than the mush that Kreacher serves up"

After breakfast Wendel and Frank led Sirius to the room that looked like a laboratory, there were maps on the wall; Sirius supposed these were Wendel's interpretation of the Dept. of Mysteries. There was also a shelf holding at least twenty time-turners in small to large sizes, jars of sand in all different colours and several lengths of metal chains.

"Did you have your wand with you when you passed through the veil?" Wendel asked Sirius

"No, but to be honest, it was my Dads old wand I was using anyway. My original wand was lost the day I faced Pettigrew in that Muggle street, I never had the same feeling of power from any other wand"

As Sirius said this, a leather box about 13 inches in length appeared on the table. Sirius let picked it up, carefully teasing the lid off, when he looked into it he let out a gasp and pulled out a wand made of Blackthorn and roughly about 12 ¾ inches. As he lifted it a golden glow surrounded his hand and a rush of air swirled around the room.

"Blackie? It's..it's my wand, my actual wand, I still remember getting it from Olivanders when I was eleven, I remember him saying "Now Mr Black, Blackthorn, 12 ¾ inches, dragon heartstring core. This wand will give you great power if you use it well" I thought it was gone forever!"

"You named your wand?" asked Frank perplexed

"Yeah, so what? I knew from the first moment I touched it that it was meant to be with a Black, and I kinda just felt that it wanted to be called Blackie. Merlin have I missed having it in my hand"

"Well this room has proved time and again that it can give us what we need or want, to a certain extent, I mean it hasn't given us a way out but anything we have needed or asked for it's provided" said Wendel

"Ok" said Sirius "let me test that for myself"

"Wha'did you have in mind?" asked Frank

"Well I always work better with music, so how about a radio, one that picks up Muggle music as well as wizard stations. Also the Prophet is totally outdated when it comes to news, so we need issues of the Quibbler every day, as well as Quidditch Times, oh and Witch Weekly"

"Witch Weekly?" smirked Wendel

"I like the articles ok? And you can learn a lot about other wizards from their profile pages"

As Sirius defended his choice of publication a stack of magazines appeared on the workbench, on the top of the pile was a bright purple wireless which clicked into life playing the Muggle song Killing me softly by The Fugees

"Ok I'm suitably impressed – now why don't we utilise the fact that I have Blackie back and the fact that we've got some music to listen to and work out a way for us to get out of here"

"Ok let's get to work" Frank and Wendel said at the same time.


End file.
